1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). More specifically, the present invention provides techniques and mechanisms for improving TCP, particularly for transmitting data such as storage application data.
2. Description of Related Art
TCP provides reliability, network adaptability, and flow control. Reliability is generally provided by using mechanisms such as sequence numbers to enable retransmission. Network adaptability and flow control are generally provided by using mechanisms such as windows. A window limits the amount of data not yet acknowledged that can be transmitted onto a network.
Conventional TCP congestion control mechanisms work well for many types of data transmissions. However, conventional TCP congestion control mechanisms often do not work adequately for delay sensitive or bursty data, such as data associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) Storage Application. In one example, TCP does not work adequately for transferring data associated with Storage Area Networks (SANs).
Consequently, it is desirable to provide techniques for improving TCP to allow more effective and efficient transmission of data such as delay sensitive and bursty data.